With a continuing ban on catching turtles in Anguilla, for commercial purposes, it is believed that over the past several years the population of turtles has grown significantly.
This has been assumed as a result of the numbers being reported in the island’s waters both by fishermen and swimmers.
In order to keep a check on the turtles, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources conducted its annual tagging exercise last week at Island Harbour Bay.
A total of nine greenback turtles, between 60 and 120 centimetres in size, were taken from the grass beds and onto the shoreline where they were tagged both on the right and left fins and then released. The procedure was watched with much interest by schoolchildren and tourists who were attracted to the beach.
Last year, up to thirteen turtles were tagged. No reason was given for the reduced number caught this time for tagging.
Among the reasons for tagging the turtles are to see how they develop, their migratory habits and whether some of them eventually return to Anguilla’s waters and the nesting areas on the beaches.
In recent times, one of the turtles tagged in Anguilla reportedly turned up in Trinidad. But one tagged in the Shoal Bay area and monitored by satellite, was traced in Canadian waters.
